After a fairly active offseason, there was renewed hope that the Portland Trail Blazers could put together a competent NBA defense. They traded for Robert Covington, one of those players that Blazers fans had been hoping for years that president of basketball operations Neil Olshey would pull the trigger on. They also signed Derrick Jones Jr., a player who is also known as a decent overall defender and above average team defender. Add those two into a lineup that features an anchor like Jusuf Nurkic and on paper you have the recipe for a decent defense.
Instead, Portland’s defense has regressed even more.